Shakespeare in Anthologies
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This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from the King’s Research Portal at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/ ‘Cut out “into little stars”’ Shakespeare in Anthologies Isherwood, Anne Awarding institution: King's College London The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. END USER LICENCE AGREEMENT Unless another licence is stated on the immediately following page this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work Under the following conditions: Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non Commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes. No Derivative Works - You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you receive permission from the author. Your fair dealings and other rights are in no way affected by the above. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 07. Oct. 2021 This electronic theses or dissertation has been downloaded from the King’s Research Portal at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/ Title: ‘Cut out “into little stars”’ Shakespeare in Anthologies Author: Anne Isherwood The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. 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Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. ‘Cut out “into little stars”’: Shakespeare in Anthologies Anne Christine Isherwood PhD Dedicated to the memory of my mother Joyce Matthews, 1925-2006. 2 His bright wit is cut out “into little stars”; his solid masses of knowledge are meted out in morsels and proverbs; and thus distributed, there is scarcely a corner which he does not illuminate, or a cottage that he does not enrich. Preface to The Wisdom and Genius of Shakspeare (1838). 3 ABSTRACT This thesis argues that, as well as collecting extracts from Shakespeare, anthologists also create Shakespeares. Extracts from Shakespeare’s texts have been included in printed anthologies since the end of the sixteenth century, yet a comprehensive study of this significant means of disseminating Shakespeare and its influence on what we understand by Shakespeare has not been undertaken. In filling this gap I argue that anthologies have been and are important disseminators of Shakespeare. In this way anthologists have contributed to the creation of the icon we now call ‘Shakespeare’ by creating their own independent Shakespeares. These anthologists’ Shakespeares might reflect what was understood by Shakespeare at any time or stand in opposition to it. Thus this thesis extends the work of previous critical studies that have argued that each age and culture appropriates and reinvents its own Shakespeare. I examine the Shakespeare texts included in anthologies that collect from many writers and also those that collect exclusively from Shakespeare. Anthologists create Shakespeares because an anthology is more than just a collection of texts; it reflects its compiler’s ideas and preoccupations through the work that s/he adds to the collected texts. I regard the anthologist as a kind of author and by considering the anthologist’s work - their choices, textual manipulation and paratexts - I discover the Shakespeare that the anthologist creates. Although this thesis is mainly concerned with printed anthologies, I define anthology widely to include texts and formats that may not have previously been considered to be anthologies. Whereas previous studies of anthologies including Shakespeare’s texts have restricted themselves to particular examples or time periods, this thesis offers a diachronic study of the dissemination of Shakespeare by anthologies from Shakespeare’s lifetime through to the present day. This allows the opportunity to reveal the similarities and differences in the Shakespeare created by anthologists at different times – and finds remarkably consistent Shakespeares. 4 References Act, scene and line references to Shakespeare’s plays are taken from The Oxford Shakespeare The Complete Works, 2nd edition (Oxford: OUP/Clarendon, 2005). References from King Lear are from The Tragedy of King Lear unless otherwise indicated. 5 CONTENTS Abstract 4 Note on References 5 Contents 6 Introduction 10 1. One of our ‘Moderne poets’: Shakespeare in Anthologies during his lifetime I. Introduction 26 II. The Passionate Pilgrim, 1599 27 III. Belvedere, Englands Parnassus and Englands Helicon, 1600 41 IV. Loves Martyr, 1601 58 V. Conclusion 69 2. Pieces of Plays, Extractions and Poems: Shakespeare in Anthologies 1616 - 1700 I. Introduction 70 II. ‘Humours and Pieces of plays’: The Wits, or Sport upon Sport, 1662-1673 73 III. The English Treasury of Wit and Language, 1655 81 IV. Poems: written by Wil. Shake-speare, Gent., 1640 88 V. Conclusion 100 3. Anthologising ‘the King of English Poets’ in the Eighteenth Century I. Introduction 101 II. Early and mid-eighteenth-century anthologies that extract from Shakespeare 107 and other writers III. ‘Miscellaneous pieces’: later eighteenth-century anthologies that extract from Shakespeare and other writers 118 IV. Anthologies for Spouters 121 V. Eighteenth-century Shakespeare anthologies 122 VI. Other eighteenth-century collections that come close to being anthologies 138 V. Conclusion 140 6 4. ‘Those poems and songs with which everyone ought to be acquainted’: Shakespeare in nineteenth-century anthologies I. Introduction 144 II. The Golden Treasury, its predecessor and followers 149 III. Early nineteenth-century anthologies 159 IV. Mid-century anthologies 161 V. Anthologies from the end of the century 166 VI. Anthologies for Children 170 VII. Summary nineteenth-century anthologies collecting from many poets 173 VIII. Nineteenth-century Shakespeare anthologies 175 IX. Shakespeare the moral philosopher and secular scripture 186 X. Conclusion 196 5. ‘A sort of miscellany with a purpose’: Anthologies using Shakespeare in the Twentieth Century I. The Oxford Book of English Verse 199 II. Wartime Anthologies 208 III. Shakespeare Anthologies in Performance 236 IV. Prince’s and Poet’s Choices 242 V. Conclusion 263 Conclusion 264 ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. 1 Title-page O2 The Passionate Pilgrime, 1599 33 Fig. 2 Extract from John of Gaunt’s speech from Richard II in Englands Parnassus 54 Fig. 3 Frontispiece and title-page The Wits, or Sport upon Sport, 1662 74 Fig. 4 Frontispiece Poems: written by Wil. Shake-speare, Gent. 96 Fig.5 ‘Witch’ from The Art of English Poetry, 1718 112 Fig. 5 Dust jacket The Prince’s Choice 245 7 APPENDICES 1. The Passionate Pilgrim 269 2. Belvedere 275 3. Englands Parnassus 277 4. Englands Helicon 293 5. Loves Martyr 296 6. Shakespeare in Print 1616-1700 302 7. The Wits, or Sport upon Sport 303 8. The English Treasury of Wit and Language 307 9. Hesperides, or the Muses Garden 335 10. Poems: written by Wil. Shakes-speare, Gent. 337 11. A bibliography of eighteenth-century anthologies that include Shakespeare’s texts 343 12.Edward Bysshe’s The Art of English Poetry 345 13.The extracts from A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Gildon’s Shakespeariana and Dodd’s The Beauties of Shakespear 357 14. Kearsley’s The Beauties of Shakespeare 361 15. I. The Speaker 361 II. Beauties of Eminent Writers. 364 16. Beauties of the English Stage; or the dramatic companion 365 17. I. A bibliography of nineteenth-century anthologies taking from many writers 366 II. A bibliography of nineteenth-century anthologies taking only from Shakespeare 367 18. The Golden Treasury 372 19. I. Nightingale Valley 374 II.The Golden Pomp 374 20. Specimens of the Early English Poets 377 21. The Beauties of the British Poets 378 22. A Thousand and One Gems of English Poetry 379 23. Gleanings from the English Poets, Chaucer to Tennyson 385 24. Chambers Cyclopedia of English Literature 386 25. A Paradise of English Poetry 389 26. The Shakespeare Anthology 392 27. Poet’s Corner 394 8 28. The Children’s Treasury of Lyrical Poetry and The Children’s Garland from the Best Poets 395 29. Songs and Sonnets by William Shakespeare 396 30. Pearls of Shakespeare 399 31. Choice Thoughts from Shakspere 401 32. Shakespeare Proverbs 405 33. Birthday Chimes from Shakespeare 406 34. Shakespeare Tercentenary Pocket Almanack. 410 35. The Wisdom and Genius of Shakspeare 411 36. The Oxford Book of English Verse. 413 37. This England. 419 38. The Spirit of Man. 420 39. Word from England. 423 40. The Times Broadsheets for Soldier and Sailors. 425 41. Soundings. 431 42. Transcript of the Programme for William the Conqueror in Stratford-upon -Avon, August 1981 435 43.